apocryphal party. a little more bottom to hit, joe. what do you think? >> i think 18% is low enough for me. >> gene? >> charles krauthammer is the yin and i'm the yang. or maybe the other way. >> you have to put a show together. >> we have this eastern thing going on. >> you do. that's what i think of when i think of you and charles krauthammer, an eastern thing. if it's way too early, mike, what time is it? >> ordinarily it's time for "morning joe." but right now it's time for "the daily rundown" and chuck todd. chuck, take it away. promises, promises. is there a big hole in one of the major message points the president used to win over the public on health care? this morning a new report by nbc news finds millions may be impacted. plus weather one week to go before two states pick new governors or perhaps re-elect an old one, some numbers you should

know about who's showing up in the garden state and why both sides are afraid of folks not showing up in the old dominion. also today, a decade ago when medicare part d was in the hot seat on health care. some folks are trying to compare it to the current rocky rollout. how much of the reception and the objections are actually similar to today's talk? good morning from washington. it's tuesday, october 29th, 2013. this is "the daily rundown." i'm chuck todd. to my "first reads" of the morning. for more than thee years it was a key component of the president's sales pitch to the public, a promise he made repeatedly while selling the health care law. >> if you like your health care plan, you keep your health care plan. these folks need to stop scaring everybody. if you like your health care plan, you keep your health care plan. nobody's going to force you to leave your health care plan. if you like your doctor, you keep seeing your doctor. i don't want government bureaucrats meddling in your

health care. but the point is i don't want insurance company bureaucrats meddling in your health care either. if you like your private health insurance plan, you can keep it. if you're one of more than the 250 million americans who already have health insurance, you will keep your health insurance. >> well, now, that promise is proving impossible to keep and we're hearing from people who buy their insurance on the individual market like self-employed realtor debra who recently got a notice from her insurer saying her policy will no longer be offered because of the new requirements in the law. >> all i want is what i currently have. i want to keep my doctors, and i would like to have lower premiums. >> the health care law requires that all plans include ten essential health benefits from maternity care to pediatric services. and though the law states that policies in effect as of march 23rd of 2010 will be grandfathered in, meaning consumers can keep those policies even though they don't meet those requirements of the

new health care law, nbc news' investigative correspondent lisa myers has found that buried in 2010 regulations written by the department of health and human services, a reasonable range for the percentage of individual policies that would end up having to be terminated is 40% to 67%. there are 263 million americans with health insurance. just over 100 million receive some kind of government insurance now. think medicare, medicaid, tricare. another 9.8% have the direct purchase are on the individual marketplace. of that, 3.6% for covered by direct purchase alone. so the administration contends that though many of this group's policies will change, that they are changing for the better. >> what the president said and everybody said all along is there are going to be changes brought about by the affordable care act to create minimum

standards of coverage. minimum services that every insurance plan has to provide. maternity care is covered. the preventive services are covered. mental health services are covered. the insurance policy you buy doesn't have an annual limit or a lifetime limit. that there are out of pock-of-p expense pences capped. >> in an interview on "meet the press" sunday, florida blue, which sent letters to about 300,000 people in the state saying their current plans would be terminated argued that doesn't mean they're canceling insurance. the white house also points out that many people will get subsidies to help offset the higher cost, the administration, though, has put themselves in a bit of a pr box. in the long run, they believe that when people experience more benefits they'll accept this tradeoff. right now it's coming across simply as sticker shock and it's clear that in the world of for-profit insurance company, the president made a pledge that it was impossible for him to keep. expect the head of the center

for medicare and medicaid services to get these twe kwes this morning when she testifies in a house hearing just about an hour from now. meanwhile, the president will continue to try to sell enrollment. tomorrow he travels to massachusetts monopo massachusetts. don't be surprised if he touts the successes they've modeled their health care law on, romney care that was passed under governor mitt romney in 2006. in an interview with the new cable network fusion, the president made a personal pitch to the young and healthy people that the white house hand insurers are depending on to sign up. >> i know that -- or at least i kind of remember when i was in my 20s and early 30s, i thought i was invincible, but it turns out i broke my nose playing basketball, it turns out that, you know, there were times with where i had unexpected illnesses or accidents, and making sure that you got coverage ensures that you're not ending up paying out of pocket thousands of dollars that you may not have. and so this is a good investment

for young people. >> nbc's senior investigative correspondent lisa myers joins me now. okay, lisa. so the white house is arguing that somehow what's going on, number one, the letters that people are getting are not cancellation notices, that they're notes to say your policy no longer meets standards, here's a new policy, but for some people it's coming with a premium hike. is that right? >> that's correct. some of them actually use the word cancellation. others use the word termination or say it's being replaced. but in both cases what you have are individuals who are not able to keep the policies they had even if they want to. >> we're finding people that did want to keep -- >> yes. >> one of the assumptions perhaps the white house incorrectly made was while these policies have so few benefits people won't like their policy, that somehow they'll like this one. that's obviously one misper spepg -- misperception. >> we are talking strictly about the 14 people in the individual

market. they are the ones who have been getting these letters. by and large they are irate. they did not expect to get these letters. but they thought they could keep what they had if they wanted to. >> this grandfather clause, this is what's confusing. the grandfather clause made it seem as if a lot of these people would fall into it. but the insurance companies make the decision about whether your policy is grandfathered in, not the administration. correct? >> well, but the experts say that the insurance companies have to follow the rules. and the rules are that if you had your policy based on march 23rd, 2010, you are grandfathered. but only if you haven't had a significant change to your policy. >> who determines that change? is that an insurance company determination or an individual -- an individual's determination? >> well, the insurance company would have to make the judgment. >> okay. >> and whether -- and what could have changed that would cause you to lose grandfathering would be if your co-pay changes significantly, your deductible changes significantly, your benefit ls change somewhat.

the problem is, in the administration's own regulations they said just because of the turn, the regular turn in the individual market, they knew all along that 40% to 67% of the folks in that market were not going to be able to qualify for grandfathering. so they were not going to be able to keep their benefits or keep the policy they wanted even if it's a bad policy. they were supposed to be able to keep it. >> the head scratcher why did they have the president out there saying what he said if he would have simply said most people. >> or even the vast majority probably would have held up. >> let me ask you this. insurance companies, are you finding any evidence that insurance companies are using the law or almost hiding behind the law to do their own premium hikes? >> look, i can't tell whether that's the case. certainly there are suspicions of that. i haven't found any proof of it. the experts say the law is pretty clear and that this is where the administration says competition is supposed to come

in and that people can choose among premiums and choose among plans. >> all right. lisa myers, investigative correspondent, thank you, ma'am. >> you bet. all right. well, if republicans end up keeping the house and keeping control of it next year, they believe they'll have one issue to thank and it's health care. they're hoping public anxiety and frustration over the new program replaces anxiety and frustration over the government shutdown, which drove gop approval numbers as low as 24%. i spoke with greg walden, chairman of the nrcc, the man in charge of keeping the house. right now there are 231 republicans, 200 democrats and four vacant house seats. that means republicans have a pretty big margin of error. according to the cook political report, ten democratic seats are considered toss-ups but democrats also have a chance pick up seattles held by people like colorado republican mike kaufman, california republican gary miller and the one vacated by bill young. republicans could lose all of

these and still hang onto the majority. if you toss in the seven democratic seats that the nrcc is targeting in districts that mitt romney won last year but democrats won the congressional seat, the party's margin for error gets even better. joining me is republican congressman greg walden, the chairman and member of the energy and commerce committee. congressman walden, good morning to you, sir. >> chuck, good to be back with you. >> let me ask you the basic question. do you think the republican majority in the house is in jeopardy in 2014? >> no, i don't. in fact, i think we have an opportunity to grow seats in 2014. midterm elections are usually a referendum on the president and his party. and this president's got a lot of answering to do from certainly obama care and the economy to nsa and other topics that i think are going to be foremost on americans' minds when they go to the ballot box in the fall of 2014. >> if this were october 2014 and not october 2013, how nervous would you be? >> look, i'm always nervous going into an election and i usually come out of it pretty

strong, but i never take any of them for granted. we have to do our job. we know we're up against the campaigner in chief in speaker pelosi who wants to be back as speaker. we're doing our job. we have terrific recruit, a broad group of men and women from all over the country that really i think are going to be a new face for the republican party going forward and they're going to be very effective. 17 of our 20 patron, you mentioned some of our incumbents being challenged, outrace their democrat counterparts and we have candidates around the country who are running against democrats who have outraised their democrats. you talk about primaries, you look at gary miller, you mentioned gary, aguilar that ran last time didn't make it on the ballot in california. he came in third in their jungle primary. he now faces a three-way very competitive and divisive primary. >> let me ask you about this issue, though, having to defend the house republican majority. >> sure. >> right now congressional republican favorable ratings are

at all-time lows depending on the poll you look at but a lot of national polls show that. i understand what's going on in individual districts and the districts look different from the national climate. but there is this issue here. you've got to defend the shutdown strategy. what do you tell your members? how do you defend the shutdown strategy? >> i think part of it, chuck, is time will help here, but second and more importantly, being off the stage and lettinging you all actually report what's happening with obama care is already putting the democrats back on their heels. and the reports out overnight about the fact that the obama administration actually knew that maybe as high as 80% of people with individual policies would lose them, at the same time the president repeatedly said you can keep the policy you have if you like it, now you have to ask the question, when did he know it? what did he know? we'll ask that question of secretary sebelius tomorrow in the energy and commerce committee. these are issues of trust that the democrats are going to have to respond to when we go into this election cycle a year from now. >> do you have to campaign?

does your republican candidates have to campaign beyond -- do you have to not look like you're rooting for failure? do you have to campaign on a solution that -- i mean, one thing the house republicans haven't had is their own health care plan to run on. >> right. >> i know paul ryan was coming up with one. is that the idea that you'll rally around what paul ryan is writing for january? >> well, first of all, two things. one, you do have to talk about how you're going to solve problems, which is what we did in the energy and commerce committee last week, figuring hout how do you waste $600 million, what they wasted on solyndra, and have a website that doesn't work? we'll get to the bottom of that. whether you like obama care or not, i don't want us to waste $600 million on a site -- >> do you want it to work? do you want the president's health care law to succeed? >> it's the law. i didn't vote for it, i don't like it, we had lots of alternative, but we were shut out of that process fully, a point often overlooked. we had 85 amendments to go to

the house floor to put out our proposal and nancy pelosi wouldn't let us have a single vote on a single amendment. you remember how they crammed this through in the dark of night. nobody had a chance to read it or understand it. that's why it is the mess it is today. >> do you want it to succeed? do you want it to succeed? >> i don't want it to fail. i don't want it to fail. if it's the law, it's the law. i want it to be repealed and replaced. and if we get the opportunity and have the votes we'll do that. >> let me talk about these primary challenges. you've got one. you've got a handful of incumbents. is it automatic, by the way, that the nrcc backs all their incumbents, period? >> actually, it's automatic that we don't get involved in primaries. that's rule 11, a letter from the rnc. so both parties have competitive primaries. >> you're not going to get involved in incumbent primary, though? >> we don't. we haven't. we don't spend money on them p. >> you're not going to do that. okay. >> no. the point here is both party have pretty primary challenges. i mentioned gary miller that's divided their party.

look at mike mcintyre, north carolina. you could go around the country, both parties have primaries. they focus more on ours because i guess that's the story du jour. >> well, it's a pretty big story in your party, congressman. it's not a -- it's a pretty -- it's a bigger split right now than what's going on in the democratic side nationally. >> but have you done a story on the one in -- gary miller's race? have you looked at what's happening? look at the party switch we are evan jenkins running against nick jo ray haul. he went from republican to democrat and he's going to beatnik. do you think the president of the united states will get a call from nick to come into west virginia? >> you don't think he's going to campaign in west virginia? >> do you think he'll come in for mike mcintyre? they have to run against barack obama and the obama administration they consistently vote against. so i think they've got a lot of explaining to do. >> let me ask you about that special election down in florida, tampa bay, classic swing district, political junkies like myself.

probably overread the results because that's what we do. but how important is it? >> it's important. >> if you lose it, then suddenly, you know what, you have to be more nervous about the national climate. >> i think people reach too much in to special elections. both parties have won and lost elections that a lot of prognosticators have said there goes the party this way or that way. and in the end there are special elections, they're called special for a reason. we want to win that seat. florida is a very important state and this is a very important district. i think voter will want to continue the terrific work and legacy of bill young in that seat. we are talking as late as last night with some really terrific candidates that can come forward. their candidate, alice sink, has to move in from another city to even run in this district and she couldn't get elected governor. i think you'll find she's not come patable in this district, although she'll start with high name i.d. >> do you want the congress mab's widow to run? >> you know, we're going to let republicans pick who the best

candidate is there.widow to run? >> you know, we're going to let republicans pick who the best candidate is there. bill young is a close friend, a personal counselor to me, a dear friend and patriot and servant of america and we'll see what plays out there. >> greg walden, the nrcc chairman, republican congressman from the state of oregon. thanks for coming on. >> chuck, good to be with you. p lets you hear it in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. [ m'm... ] great taste. [ tapping ] sounds good. campbell's healthy request. m'm! m'm! good.® to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for her, she's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with her all day to see how it goes. [ claira ] after the deliveries, i was okay. now the ciabatta is done and the pain is starting again. more pills? seriously? seriously. [ groans ] all these stops to take more pills can be a pain. can i get my aleve back? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap.

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back now with the numbers we think you know to complete your day, maybe impress a friend or two or that annoying co-worker. 31, the percent of democrats that are backing governor chris christie for re-election for to

a second term. in the new quinnipiac poll, he leads his opponent by a 2 to 1 margin overall with just one week to go before election day. i thought he would get over 55. he'll get over 60. stunning. our next number relates to next tuesday. 2. that's the number of times since 1965 the turnout for a virginia gubernatorial election has dipped from the previous one. just twice. both terry mcauliffe and ken cuccinelli seem to be aware of that history because when there's general discontent with the choices, that's what happens. it happened in 1985 when a democrat won and in 1998 when jim gilmore won. 64% of mcauliffe voters claim they're not voting for mcauliffe but against cuccinelli. next up, the fifth, as in the fifth circuit court of appeals. where a federal judge ruled monday that a new texas law that restricts -- puts new restrictions on abortion are

unconstitutional. the law was famously filibustered by democratic state senator wendy davis who has now launched a bid for governor. the law was set to go into effect today. texas attorney general greg abbott, also running for goff, no was expected to file an emergency appeal. we've seen this time and again. state laws on abortions usually get stopped or overturned by the courts. our final number for you today, 100. that's how many days are left until the 2014 winter olympics in sochi, russia. go get your maps out and if ig your out where that is. but it has something to do with putin's semihometown. and of course we're going to love it here. up next, we've got more of this morning's first read, the diplomatic damage continuing as the head of the nsa prepares to face congress today. first today's trivia question. how many democratic committee chairmen lost their house seats in the 2010 general election? first person to tweet that correct answer will get the on-air shoutout.

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more of my first read. the obama administration's other big pr problem this morning the na nast's international spying scandal if you want to call it a scandal. director of national intelligence, james clapper, is expected to testify for the house select intelligence committee this afternoon. james cole and keith alexander will also be questioned. meanwhile, the chair of the senate intelligence committee, dianne feinstein, is calling for a full review of the nsa's mass data collection both at home and abroad. senator feinstein says she's totally opposed to spying on u.s. allies and world leaders and complains that congress has not been kept in the loop. feinstein's republican counterpart in the intelligence committee, republican senator susan collins agrees and is quoted as saying she knows of no justification for collecting intel on our closest allies. senator feinstein quoted this

morning in newspapers around the world, including spain's media outlets, also saying the spying scandal could break the climate of trust with spain. the obama administration has denied knowledge of the extent of the spying. the president said he'd launch a full review of the nsa program during an interview that aired last night on a cable network that's called fusion. >> the national security operations generally have one purpose, and that is to make sure that the american people are safe and that i'm making good decisions, and i'm the final user of all the intelligence that they gather. what we've seen over the last several years is their capacities continue to develop and expand, and that's why i'm initiating a review to make sure that what they're able to do doesn't necessarily mean what they should be doing. >> of course president's review of the program might not be enough to restore international confidence. spain's government summoned the u.s. ambassador to address the allegations yesterday. and then there are some german

lawmakers who are suggesting they table discussions of any sort of european union free trade deal with the u.s. until this is cleared up in an effort to shore up some i remember support, the administration now has some trust issues with members of the intelligence community too. an intelligence source tells the "l.a. times," "people are furious." this is officially the white house cutting off the intelligence community. well, as the handwringing continues on capitol hill, the reporter working with leaker edward snoed season promising more revelations in the weeks ahead. let's bring in the tuesday gaggle. alicia moody mills is the adviser for lgbt policy at the center for american progress, ohio secretary of state john huston, elected official in ohio, and nbc's casey hunt covers capitol hill. welcome. i want to start with our outcider, the on? washington guy, the nsa story. it's one of those things that you hear lawmakers will say, you know what, the public actually doesn't want to know a lot of this information. do you buy that?

>> no. i think the public does want to know. >> what do they want to know? >> whether we're spying on our friends. you don't do that to friends. >> no justification of it? >> look, there are a lot of reasons that people might think that it's a good idea, but if you're going to have a relationship with a friend, you don't spy on your friends. you're going to also want to know did the president know about this, are they telling the truth. i think those are the things that people want to know. >> the objections we're hearing from capitol hill, i'm not sure it is them trying to respond to the media attention. we're shocked that this happened, made it look like they would not condone something like this and at the same time, they're privately going we understand that sources are -- >> well, you have to remember that congress tends to be very protective of its right to know and there are sort of rules that say especially what the senate intelligence committee is supposed to be able to have ak celtics to. they have access to more information than the whole senate. so the fact that the president

says that he didn't know about this is sort of what's remarkable. because usually what congress is complaining about is, hey, white house, you knew what you were doing and you failed to tell us about it. in this case it's kind of like what's worse, that the president knew or he didn't know. and congresswoman feinstein's statement pshgs you read it, they are clearly shocked by all of this. we'll see what happens behind closed doors but it sounds like they'll do something about it. >> it seems as if there was the whole need to know, you don't want to know. you always hear this joke among you don't want to know how i got this information. so perhaps that's how an intelligence briefing was made to the president, in hindsight a mistake. >> i wouldn't say it was a mistake. the president can't possibly know every single thing that's happening. >> should he have been told that world leaders -- >> i think he has a general scope of what the security operations are. i don't think he knows every single detail as any boss doesn't know every single detail. the point you made about this

big public media disclosure, we are trying to walk a fine balance between keeping the nation secure and having pope francis parent si a-- transpare. the general public doesn't necessarily want or need to know every single thing that goes into keeping him safe. at the same time, the question comes where is that line and i think right now we're trying to figure that out. >> somebody who sort of -- i don't imagine this would be a voting issue, right? and there is this sort of tension. you feel it with some lawmakers, particularly republicans who on one hand are saying the 9/11 plot, hamburg, germany, was used. so there is a component of this that says surveillance of western jueurope is important. >> you'll get a lot of latitude from the american public when it comes to going after al qaeda or things that people think are real threats to their lives. i don't think they think angela merkel's cell phone is a real threat to their lives.

they just don't get the sense that those kinds of things -- they're not going to give you the latitude on those kinds of things. >> casey, what's interesting, you hear the president, he was basically saying -- he didn't say it this way but the excuse was, you know, nsa has so much technology now at their disposal, we have to tell them what not to use and we didn't tell them that they couldn't do this, and that's the way -- it almost makes you wonder, is there no common sense used at nsa? >> well, it sounds like if they had the technological capability -- >> they went ahead and used it. >> they were collecting it. but the question in my mind is at what point does this sort of surveillance state or the national security state actually usurp the elected branches of government that we have, because what we've seen over the course of, you know, this e evolving, you know, nsa story from snowden is that the white house doesn't seem to know what's going on. if they don't know what's going on, they definitely can't do anything about it or have any control over it. so where do you draw that line? >> and this is split, some democrats, you have some liberals and libertarians who

are absolutely -- it just bugs them what's going on with nsa. >> well, and rightfully so. i would say to kai kas casey's there has to be transparency and accountability. i agree the senate and congress should have known at least something about what was happening in terms of who was being wiretapped. and i agree that's an issue. need to figure it out. >> this is a management issue. there's something at nsa, whatever you want to call it, management issue in the intelligence committee, all these reform, something is missing. we'll talk a little state politics, virginia, may sneak in some ohio there. up next, lessons to learn. it's a deep dive into the rocky rollout from ten years ago. what the obama administration believes it can learn from glitches and if i cans that surrounded the start of medicare part d. when we made our commitment to the gulf, bp had two big goals: help the gulf recover and learn from what happened

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the end. lovely read susan. but isn't it time to turn the page on your cup of joe? gevalia, or a cup of johan, is like losing yourself in a great book. may i read something? yes, please. of course. a rich, never bitter taste cup after cup. net weight 340 grams. [ sighs ] [ chuckles ] [ announcer ] always rich, never bitter. gevalia. delays, glitches, confusion, and mistakes. a rollout of the government's newest medical health care program leading to political kri schism and concern that the program wouldn't work.

i'm describing the reaction when the bush white house unveiled medicare part d, the prescription drug program that today we're going to take a deep dive into. that rocky rollout from eight years ago, one that may give the current administration reason to hope for better days ahead. we go back to the spring and summer of 2005. then president bush and his officials traveled the country trying to sell the public on medicare part d. >> one of the reasons i've come to this center is to encourage caregivers and sons and daughters and community- and faith-based groups to help seniors understand, one, what's available to a new program, and, two, to encourage seniors to fill out the simple four-page form so they can take advantage of this good deal. >> nevertheless, the public was skeptical. six months prior to launch, just 21% of the public had a favorable opinion of the program. that was lower than the favorable rating right now for

the affordable care act. the part d program was supposed to roll out october 2005 but was delayed twice. "usa today" wrote this at the time -- most seniors didn't understand it and they were shying away from it. when the program finally went online in mid-november, computer problems hampered online tools and technical issues prevented some people from getting the prescription drugs they'd signed up for. newly elected speaker of the house -- excuse me, house republican leader john boehner called the implementation horrendous, far more complicated than it should have been. another prominent critic was a senator from illinois named barack obama. >> having drug companies come in and write the medicare prescription drug bill which we now see is not working for our seniors, those are very particular problems of this administration and this congress. >> well, today, the problems have been fixed and the program is enjoying immense popularity. one poll found 9 of 10 ben fi

beneficiaries of the medicare part d program are satisfied with their coverage. of course it's not quite an apples to apples comparison. seniors by and large were open to the program but needed time to understand it. young people, key to the president's health care reform, may not be willing to wait for the glitches to be fixed. tom coburn said it helped that the medicare benefit was administered by private companies. he says that's a sharp contrast to new health care laws. >> all it was was we're going to raise your benefit, nobody's going to pay any taxes and by the way we're going to let private industry figure out how to do that and it did and it came in at about half the cost of what everybody estimated it would do. >> the white house has tried to point to the medicare part d rollout as proof things can get better. the question is will it? joining me now the co-chair of the national bipartisan commission on the future of medicare, deeply involved in working on medicare while in the senate and was a big part of getting medicare part d passed. good morning to you, sir. >> good morning, chuck. >> well, is it an apples to

apples comparison? the white house has been telling me this behind the scenes, medicare part d's rollout was just as e erratic, give us some time, the public will be won over. >> history repeats itself. back in 1965 with medicare, doctors and hospitals said it would be the end of western civilization, yet now they depend on it every day. same with medicare part d. they said "d" stood for debacle when they were rolling it out. now 90% of seniors think it's a great program and can't live without it and it's working very well. but the rollout was terrible. like you pointed out, john boehner says the republican rollout was horrendous, yet it took a few months, they got it up and running and now have till the end of march. so these start-up problems are problems, yes, and you have to admit that they are, but they're not going to affect the ultimate view of the program after it gets fully implemented. ? that's the thing. the public is going to judge

this again at some point, right, after a year or two. when did you finally see that a corner had been turned in -- >> i think after about six months. we spent a lot of time explaining it to seniors on the road, temperature ads, a lot of mailouts, a lot of groups and organizations working to help sell it. the interesting thing that's different now, democrats are by and large who did not vote for it, after it was passed said look, we have to make it work. hillary clinton was quoted as saying, i didn't vote for it but i want the people of new york to have it working for them and i'm going to do what i can to help. senator herb kohl voted against it, said we have to make it work for the seniors that are going to benefit from it. so then democrats were working to help make it work even though they voted against it. now you see republicans fighting it tooth and nail even though it's the law of the land. >> both the medicare part d when you wrote that legislation and this health care legislation, one thing was a decision was made which was don't alienate

the insurance company, bring them in as partners here because at the end of the day you'll need them to implement it. you needed them to implement part d, the administration desperately needs to implement it on the exchange program. is that part of the political problem here, too, that you have to get in bed with the insurance industry that the public in general is distrustful of? >> republicans would say, look, we want the private sector to do it, not the federal government. >> the private sector essentially is doing this with a lot of federal government oversight. >> exactly right. they're saying we want the private sector to compete, bring down the prices to legitimate competition and you're going to have to involve them in setting up the parameters that they're going to deliver the product. same thing that medicare part d. it's private insurance delivering it. we make them compete, get better prices as a result of it. the goal of the exchange is to have a lot of insurance companies competing for the right to sell you the insurance and thereby bring about a better product at a better price. >> in this rollout for the health care law, have the insurance companies been an

asset to the administration or a problem? >> i don't know that they have been that involved in the rollout. i mean the website, whoever did the website, that's the problem. >> i'm talking about selling the overall exchange. >> i think they'll be there. they want that market. i mean, they want to go after those people who don't have health insurance if there's going to be a government subsidy. they want to sell that product. >> you think they're going to be an asset at some point. >> absolutely. they'll fight to be able to sell the product of health insurance just like they are now in selling prescription drugs. there's a lot of competition, we get a better product and a better price as a result. >> the administration, its pr problems one of the things we talked about at the top, that overall, that promise that the president couldn't control that promise because it's the private -- because the private sector, as much as people want to say this is public takeover, it's not. it's private insurance companies controlling this process. did he overpromise? i think they were not clear as much as they should have been. they should have said you can keep your current insurance if it's sufficient to get the job

done but if it's inadequate, you have to move to a better plan. they didn't spell that out carefully and now are catching flak. >> that would have been a political problem at the time. >> it would have been a problem at the time. >> former democratic senator from louisiana, one of the wise men of washington, good to have you on. >> my pleasure. down to the wire in virginia. both sides bringing out big guns. the gaggle will be here. we'll talk about that. more on the race to the finish on our website. i'm angela, and i didn't think i could quit smoking but chantix helped me do it. i told my doctor i think i'm... i'm ready. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. i knew that i could smoke for the first 7 days. i knew that i wasn't putting nicotine back into my body to try to quit.

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democrat terry mcauliffe will get some help from another heavy political hitter in the final days before the election for virginia governor. he's running against ken cuccinelli. president obama is scheduled to campaign with mcauliffe this sunday. former president clinton has been stumping for him for days. the mcauliffe message has turned into a push to simply get out to vote. he has a double-digit lead over cuccinelli. a new poll shows among supporters 34% of for mcauliffe. 64% of his voters are voting

against cuccinelli. cuccinelli brought in his own heavy hitters. senator rand paul stumped for the republican. of course they got a lyibertarin candidate they're anxious about. let's bring back our gaggle. you deal with turnout issues. how much do you feel as if -- have you noticed in some of the limited elections you're dealing with in ohio this year, it's an off year, that people are lessen gauged than they have been in years past? they are a little bit because the get out to vote machine that happens in a presidential election does not happen in statewide -- >> so you think that's what it is? you don't feel like there's a complacency issue? >> it's really hard to tell but i think you become accustomed in a swing state like ohio or virginia where you're constantly getting called. no one is calling anymore. no one is putting the effort together like there is in a presidential election. >> aisha, watching this election i have assumed that the

unintended consequence of a heavily negative campaign, essentially the campaign pitches have been i'm not him, right, that's in some form. and that over time, that sort of does push some people away. >> i think what's pushing people away is ideology. this is more to me about ideology than it is complacency. virginia voters are also supportive of things that very conservative republicans like cuccinelli are not. so marriage equality, they are not toeing the same gun roll line, they also have different views on women and so i think that we really need to look at the ideology. cuccinelli is just way too right wing. >> kasie, it does seem as if what mcauliffe is worried about is the assumption that he's going to win is going to lead to lower turnout. i sense that and then you wonder if they have down ticket issues. democrats would like to sweep all three races. >> cuccinelli has been playing to the base, which is not

tipally -- >> but so is mcauliffe now. remember the last week that's what you do. >> mcauliffe is also at this point using fear to motivate. i don't know if you've seen any of the ads that have been airing on rotation here in the d.c. area. it's like here are all the reasons that you should be afraid cuccinelli will become governor of virginia. the latest is on background checks for gun control. >> it's stunning. an ad mark warner never would have run. an ad don byer would have never run. >> and i'm guessing he's running it more aggressively here in the northern virginia market than other parts of the state. but at the same time she till needs -- there was a great story about young women in northern virginia that he needs to get out. if they don't show up, this lead is at risk. >> one of the stories about the election in virginia, and i'm curious if you're concerned about it as a republican in ohio, is this issue that the party is out of sync where swing voters are in ohio and virginia. this is swing voter central, these two states. are you concerned that your

party is out of line with where the middle of the electorate is in a place like ohio? >> well, i will tell you that there's some good lessons in this election. look how chris christie is doing in new jersey, a blue state. >> you look at what christie is doing and say that's a model. ken cuccinelli not a model. >> winning in new jersey, a republican governor, there's a lot of lessons there about how you can win in tough states. pick up new kinds of voters that are not traditional republicans. and i think there will be a lot of lessons to learn out of new jersey. >> that's the lesson you're trying to learn. so if a democrat attacks you and says you're part of the tea party wing of the republican party, what's your response? you're anti-washington, where are you pushing back? >> i'm just trying to solve problems. republicans are focused on solving problems that real people have in their lives, they'll do well. >> do you think this ideology thing has been an issue? >> i think you've got to build a coalition. that's part of the coalition, it's not the party. >> shameless plugs. aisha. >> next week the senate is going

to hear the employment nonskrem nation act. there's going to be a vote, center for american progress is putting out a bunch of stuff on that so check us out. >> we're trying to do redistricting reform in ohio to fix the -- >> a referendum. >> we're hoping to do a constitutional amendment. we'll be working on this in november. >> to take it out of the legislature? >> to put it in a bipartisan commission. >> interesting. >> i'm going to do a short plug for the st. louis cardinals, which i know is very unpopular, but george sisler played for the st. louis browns, member of our family. >> you're connected to george? that's kind of cool. >> there's a statue outside busch stadium. >> but nats fans and dodger fans are all anti-cardinals. that's it for this edition of tdr. we'll see you right here tomorrow at 9:00. secretary kathleen sebelius faces congress for the first time since the rollout of healthcare.gov. we'll begin testifying live during our show. we'll have complete coverage. chris jansing is up next.

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